Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1948)

104 Arrange before you edit Adequate equipment and orderly methods make editing a pleasure. Both are discussed here JAMES W. MOORE, ACL FOR those amateur filmers who have only recently joined the party, it occurs to us that some few words in elaboration of the editing picture story opposite may be of aid and interest. Let's take a quick look, to begin with, at the arrangements more or less necessary for the editing process. The one completely essential accessory is the splicer. This, as you probably know, is the flat, black gadget in the center of the editing arrangements pictured. Its function is to join together strips of film which have been cut apart and rearranged in editing. This joining is actually done by a chemical solvent called film cement, and there is no feasible way of doing it save with a film splicer. So, item one, you need a splicer. Second accessory of importance among your editing tools probably is a set of rewinds. In the pictures, these are the shiny uprights at each end of the editing assembly; and, as should be clear, their purpose is to provide an easy method of running varied lengths of film backward and forward for examination and handling. While these operations can be carried out on your projector, it is a slow, clumsy method, so that rewinds are the desirable answer. The ones pictured are of the largest size, accepting the 1600 and 2000 foot 16mm. reels. Smaller ones are offered for the 400 foot 16mm. or 200 foot 8mm. worker. A third item of equipment, facilitating your editing operations, is some arrangement for visual examination of the footage, scene by scene. This is best done by the use of an action viewer (as pictured), through which lengths of film may be wound at will for small-scale projection on the ground glass viewing window. Functions of the viewer are twofold: (1) to make easy identification of the subject matter and action of each scene, and (2) to determine the exact frame at which a given scene should be cut in critical editing. Again, these operations of the editing routine can be carried out in other ways — but the action viewer is the best solution. Perhaps next best is the use of one's projector, especially if it is equipped to project both forward and in reverse. A second method is simply to examine the film (mounted on the rewinds) in the hand, with the aid of a small magnifying glass. This latter way, however, will be found noticeably tiring in any major editing job. Fourth physical necessity for orderly editing is some method of temporarily storing and identifying the short strips of film which are the individual scenes. In our picture story, this is being done in a commercial variant of the egg box idea — a method which also can be adapted to druggist's pill boxes and other small containers. Other systems call for a vertically hung backboard on which are aligned a series of numbered hooks for small coils of film, or a large, cloth lined box or barrel into which loose lengths of film can be draped, with a numbered end of each secured at the container rim. Some form of film storage arrangement is quite vital to any extended editing operation, or you will soon find your film clips on the floor and yourself in a mental mess. So, in due course, you get yourself one or another of these editing aids. Your first temptation — and a natural one — is to hop right in with the scissors and to start cutting your small, processed reels into separate scenes. Dont do it! For there is no point in breaking up these easily handled long lengths into not so easily handled short lengths until you know where you want the individual scenes to go. Thus, your first basic editing operation will be to get down on paper a simple, straight forward listing of each scene contained in the material you have to work with. In our picture story, this task is shown as preceded by a preliminary splicing together of all the processed footage on one big reel, for easier handling. This is an excellent idea but not wholly necessary. The scene listing is. This listing should be in the numerical order in which the scenes occur on their several reels. After each number you will make a brief notation describing the scene, such as: Medium shot, car and trailer enter left background, move right forward to a stop. If there are any weaknesses in the scene — over or underexposure, edge fog and the like — these should be noted following scene descriptions. Also, if you have progressed to such effects as fades or dissolves, it is important to jot these down, So your basic scene listing is completed. If, in your filming, you have got to the point where you can discard imperfect footage without argument, now is the time to do it — as pictured. If not, let's move on to the next editing step — the real heart of the operation. Still without cutting up the film, take your scene list, some fresh sheets of paper and your imagination in hand. It is on the fresh paper that the real editing is done, as follows: (1) Write a tentative subtitle for the first sequence, suggesting what you want these scenes to say. (2) List underneath this subtitle, in their new numerical order, the scenes you intend to include in the first sequence, identifying them only by their original order numbers. Your listing might read like this: 1 — 3; 2 — 4; 3 — 1; 4 — 7; 5 — 2, indicating that the five scenes comprising the first sequence are scenes number 3, 4, 1, 7 and 2 in the original scene list. When you have gone through all of your present footage in this way, plotting the sequence orders, you are now ready to start cutting. But don't be in a hurry. You can't cut and store all your footage at once. So take it easy, one sequence at a time. Cut out the scenes needed, store them under storage numbers corresponding to their original numbers, then refer to your sequence scene listings and splice them together on a small reel. Go at each sequence in the same way, calmly, methodically and in order. You'll soon find that editing is great fun.